Shenendehowa girls' volleyball ends Burnt Hills' streak

Straight-sets win halts skein of 390 straight league wins

Updated 11:30 pm, Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Clifton Park

As the final point was won at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday night, the six Shenendehowa girls' volleyball players on the court began to celebrate before being completely engulfed by teammates and the school's student section.

After coming so close to beating Burnt Hills in 2015, the Plainsmen made history by defeating the Spartans 25-20, 25-9 and 25-17 to snap the Spartans' record 390-match Suburban Council winning streak.

The last time Burnt Hills (21-4 overall, 13-1 Suburban Council) lost in league play came at Shenendehowa in a three-set match in 1990.

Shenendehowa (17-2, 14-0), ranked No. 4 in Class AA in the state, became the first Suburban Council team to push to the Spartans to five sets last October. In a front of sellout crowd on Wednesday, the Plainsmen were on point from the outset and fulfilled a promise they made to themselves 12 months ago to be the team to end the longest winning streak in Section II volleyball history.

"This is so awesome. It is so big for our program," Shenendehowa senior setter Julia Paliwodzinski said. "We've worked so hard. We finally were able to check this one off our check list. I am so happy."

During the final stages of the third set, Shenendehowa coach Lori Kessler wore a satisfied smile as she watched her players perform nearly flawlessly. The 10th-year coach beamed with pride afterward.

"It feels surreal," Kessler said. "When you work so hard for something for so long, the kids have been so invested for this moment, and it happened. We have never played in this type of environment. What I said to them all week was we had to play our game. They ended up feeding off the energy that this crowd brought. They executed."

Adams was a dominating force in the middle throughout, finishing with 17 kills and three blocks. Paliwodzinski delivered 33 assists and Macken added 16 service points (four aces) and five digs.

Shenendehowa won the first five points of the match and later withstood an 8-3 surge by Burnt Hills. Rachel Millington's kill closed out the first set.

"Getting the momentum was key," Macken said. "If we started off shaky and gave them momentum, it would be hard to get back."

The Spartans are a program that has captured six state championships since 2002 and won 21 sectional titles since 1991. Burnt Hills coach Gary Bynon has guided his teams to 29 straight divisional titles in the Suburban Council, the latest coming Thursday when Burnt Hills beat Ballston Spa 3-1.

After emerging with his players from the locker room, Bynon said, "First of all, we got beat by a better team tonight. Those kids played well and we were hardly in system at all. ... We couldn't run anything."

Burnt Hills fell behind 12-3 in the second set and struggled to establish any rhythm as the Plainsmen served, passed and hit at much higher percentages.

"They worked their butts off for four days in preparation for this match and then executed everything we wanted to do," Kessler said. "They remembered how close they came last year to beating them, and that feeling never left them. They wanted it more than anything and they did it."

Like his players, Bynon was emotional afterward. He felt his players' pain of being burdened with the weight of a winning streak they have only played a small part in.

"I think the Burnt Hills volleyball program has so much to be proud of," Kessler said. "I know they will continue to be successful. Those kids will work hard to get ready for the playoffs. They have nothing to hang their heads about. They're a great team."